Stacking tray



June 27, 1933.

M. w. LANEI ET AL V*sT-ACKING TRAY 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. '7, 1929 A y J f M y@ @Y 9c H A@ W7 7@ 3% 2 2 W) wf W 4 .555A Y\ /Za 4 S MW@ V .J .MMM 2 6 a /A M v 4%. 3/ Z J w, M .4% o` f o i Q +S 5m OT, 7l o i .O/mwa/.v O O O n, I/l

June 27, 1933.

' M. W. LANE El' AL STACKING TRAY Filed Sept. 7, 1929 2 vsheets-sheet 2 WMe/#afs AMW/ae 14./ me /dade W V/fe's um" Aff/'z Patented June 27, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFElcE,

-nunrcn w. ma, or cmcaao, .um cnaunn w. puras, or nownnns emvn, nunon. selezione 'ro wnsrnan iinnc'raxcv courus, INconroaarEn, or NEW vom; n. Y., A oonrona'rzro'nI or New Yonx s'raoxnra naar Application med September 1999. Serial 11o. 891,007.

This invention relates to stacking trays, and

. particularly to trays which may be stacked in a variety of ways. f l

In the stacking of trays in a shop or manufacturing plant for storing or transporting shop parts and articles, it is desirable in many instances that the trays be capable of being stacked in a variety of ways, according to the use to which they are put or the space which it they may occu y. Thus when the trays contain articles w ich are to be inspected, it is desirable that the trays be vstacked in such a way that some of the articles may he removed for inspection or other purposes without movw ino or shiftin abile to stach te trays in as small a space as possible. c An object of this invention is to provide an economically and rigidl constructed tra it@ which may be stacked an interlocked Wit similar tra s in a variety of ways. v y Infaccor ance with this object, one embodinient of the invention consists of a rectan lar metal tray having transverse, upwar ly' B5 directed embossings extending nearly. across the bottom for engaging and interlocking with projections of a correspondin size provided in the rim or upper edges o the tray by notches formed or cut therein. A pair of v 50 such projections on the lateral edges of the tray cooperating with the embossing. in the bottom provide or crosswise stackin and interlocking of one tray on top of the ot er, and a pair of these projections on the end edges provide for endwise staggered stacking Vand mterlockin of one tray on top of another. A horizontal edge is also formed around the rim of the tray for stacking one tray directly above the other, and the rim of the tray is 40- reinforced by turning the edge of the metal under itself. l

A clear understanding of the invention will be had by referring to one s ciiic embodiment thereof as illustrated in t e accompany- "5 ing drawings, wherein Y the trays, or it may be desir- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the tray;

2 is a side elevation thereof, partly in sectlonf, Bthe'sjection being taken on the line Figa is an end view thereof;

FigA is a sectional view of the joint structure provided for the upper portions of the tray corners, taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

i 5 shows how the trays may be nested one a ove the other; f

Fig. 6 discloses the method of crosswise stacking the trays, and Fig. 7 illustrates the method of stacking the trays with their ends staggered.

Referring now to the drawings in which like Areference numerals designate similar parts in the several views there is disclosed a rectangular tray constructed of three pieces of sheet metal consisting of a bottom 10, integral side portions 11, and two end pieces 12. This tray is assembled by bending the two side portions 11 upwardly at right angles to the bottom and the side portions hein rovlded with deps 13 and the bottom wi aps 14 for securing the end pieces 12 in position. The end' pieces 12 are placed in position and the flaps 13 and 14 are bent around their outer surfaces and riveted thereto, as shown in Fig. 3, to secure them in position. The portions of the four corners of the an above the iiaps 13 are joined by welding. The upper portions of the endpieces 12 and side ortions 11 are inclined inwardly and than ent horizontall to provide a stacking ledge 15 and this le ge is provided with a reinforced hem or rim 16 extending around the 'riphery of the tray which is formed b ben ing the edges of the sheet metal upwar ly and then downwardly in under themselves as shown in Fig. 2. The joints of this reinforced rim 16 between the sides and end por'- tions of the tray are not welded directly at the corners, but are constructed as shown in Fig. Il:y with a portion of the end part of the rim extending and lapping around the oorners and welded on one side of the tray at 17 to the side portion of the This type of rim welding provides a stronger joint at the'corners than if the side and end rim portions were welded directly in line with the welded corners of the tray. Suitable handles 18 and card or label holders 19 are also riveted to the ends ofthe tray.

It will be apparent that the horizontal stacking ledge provides for, stacking or nesting such'a tray above another one of similar construction as shown in Fig. 5, this type of stackin amount o e space is given or in cases where the trays are empty. f

In order that the articles or arts contained by these trays may be readi y inspected or removed without shifting or moving the trays, it is necessary that the trays be stacked in such away that the parts are easily accessible, and in order to furnish such accessibility, the trays are preferably stacked crosswise of each other as shown in Fig. 6, or in an endwise staggered formation vas shown in Fig. 7. To provide for these two modes of stacking, equally separated pairs of notches 23 and 24 are furnished in the side corrugations 27 provided in the bottom of the tray and separated by a distance equal to the distance between the sides of the tray, a sufcient unembossed or unindented portion being left adjacent the ends of each of the einboings 27 for eitikgaging the notches 23 and 24. Thus, when e trays are stacked crosswise as shown in Fig. 6 the upwardly directed embossings 27 engage and interlock with the lateral projections 25 extending between the notches 23, the unembossed or unindented portions of the bottom of the tray adjacent the embossings 27 engagin the notches 23. Such engagement between t e ein ci i 2? and the lateral projections 25 of the rim of the tray prevent the tra from sliding either longitudinally or'laterall tioned underneath. Thus the trays may he stacked for a considerable height in the manner shown in 6 without any danger of them bein move out of position.

For sta g the trays in the endwise staggered positionehown in Fig. 7, the embossings 27 are positioned to enga the end projections 26 of the rim provi ed Yby the notches 24 with vone end of the tray engaging the horizontal stacking vledge 15 as shown in Fig. 7. With this formation of endwise staggered stacking, it is a parent that the tray is permanently inter ocked as. in the' manner of stacking shown in Fig. 6 and also' being used where a minimum g y of the tray -posimay that the parts contained in the trays may be removed in this instance as readily as in the case of the crosswise stacking. I

It is of course apparent that the embos' sings 27 and the rim projections 25 and 26 may be constructed in a variet of different ways to provide for different kinds of stacking according to the kind of stacking required, it being noted that the eng ement between the rim projections, and the ttom embossings always provides a firm and secure interlocking between the trays.

It will of course be understood that the invention is not to be limited by the specific embodiment herein described, but is to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is: f

1. A tray having its upper edges provided with lprojections and its bottom provided with channel-like recees corr size to such projections for receiving similar projections on the edges of another tray of like construction.

2. A tray having its upper side edges provided with projections and its bottom provided with channel-like recesses corresponding in size to such projections for receiving similar projections on the side edges of another tray of like construction;

3. A tray having its bottom provided with channel-like recesses and its upper end and side edges provided with projections corresponding in size to such recesses for extending into similar recesses in another tray of like construction to furnish either crosswise or endwise staggered stacking thereof.

4. A tray having its bottom provided with' channel-like and its up r riphery provided with projections or orming .an interlocking cesses in a similar tray, and a horizontal.

association with such re- ;ta'cking ledge with a reinforced rim surronnding the upper periphery.

6. A tray having'its bottom provided with channel-like recesses and its rim provided with discontinuous portions for forming an 4 interlocking association with such www of a similar tray in any of a plurality poa'tions.

A tray having its bottom provided with channel-like and its up .rv riph ery provided with projections or orming y an interlocking association with such recet es of a similar tra in predetermined positions whereby a p urality of similar trays be stacked in red relation, the altei-mately potioned trays being parallel onding in :its

e. A my ming is provided i channel-like recesses and its up er riphery provided with projections or ormxng an interlocking associatlon with such recesses of a similar tray in predetermined positions, wherebya plurality of similar trays may be stacked in staggered relation, the alternately positioned trays being parallel and in general alignment. f

In witness whereof, we hereunto subscribe our names, this 23rd day of August A. D., 1929, and this 26th day of August A. D., 1929,

respectively' MAURICE w LANE CLAUDE w. "oAKEs 

